Unofficial news and tips about Google

September 4, 2011

Switch to the Classic Google Search Interface on a Tablet

Google's search interface for tablets is great, but it lacks some of the features from the regular interface. One of the most important missing features is the link to the cached search results. Sometimes a site goes down, a page changes a lot or redirects you to a stripped-down mobile interface and Google's cache is really useful.

Now you can switch between the tablet interface and the classic interface using a link displayed at the bottom of the search results page: "View Google in: Tablet | Classic". The nice thing is that Google remembers the query and sends you to the same page of results.

Other missing features from the tablet interface: the number of search results, the link to the advanced search page, the "something different" section, the smart sidebar that shows the most relevant specialized search engines and options, while hiding the other features. While these options are still available in the tablet interface, Google no longer highlights those that are the most relevant.

To switch to the classic interface, Google adds "&nota=1" to the URL (there's a similar parameter for the mobile interface: "&nomo=1"). While there's no way to permanently switch to the classic interface, you can bookmark this URL to access it: http:/www.google.com/webhp?nota=1.